Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine announce the first psychiatry residency graduating class. Having begun their 4-year residency in July 2014, these eight doctors have developed and progressed with the program. Starting July 1, the psychiatry residency program will have grown to 41 residents and three fellows – two in child and adolescent and one in geriatric.

Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. Successful completion of a residency program is a requirement to obtaining an unrestricted license to practice medicine. Several of the graduates are choosing to continue into fellowships, two at Pine Rest.

“For the past seven years the team at Pine Rest has been seeking to be part of the national solution to the behavioral health access problem through the development of the Pine Rest/Michigan State Psychiatry Residency Program,” says Mark Eastburg, Ph.D., Pine Rest President & CEO. “We are excited that our investment of time and financial resources is coming to fruition, and that the first group of what will eventually be hundreds of new psychiatrists trained in West Michigan will go out and serve both locally and nationally.”

On June 8, the psychiatry resident graduate, below is a listing of their future plans:

“After four years of intense training our residents are about to graduate from the Pine Rest/Michigan State University psychiatry residency training program as extremely well trained psychiatrists,” says William Sanders, D.O., Pine Rest Psychiatry Residency Program Director. “They will provide immediate benefits to our community as they use their training and skills to improve the lives of thousands of people in desperate need of help. I am proud that our residents will leave our program living the mission of providing kind and compassionate behavioral health care in our community.”